A man who picked up a wallet that had been dropped outside a Yeovil shop, after his friend told him it belonged to him, claimed he was unaware that it actually belonged to another man who had just walked out of the store.

Benjamin Robert Cousins got out of the car he was sat in and picked it up after the owner had accidentally dropped it without realising.

He gave it to his friend, who then drove them away from the scene, and when he was identified from CCTV of the incident he was arrested and admitted the offence.

Cousins, 25, of St Patricks Road, Yeovil, pleaded guilty to stealing a wallet and contents of an unknown value belonging to Stephen Harding at Yeovil on February 25 when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates.

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Prosecutor Christine Hart said that Mr Harding had gone to the Co-op on Stiby Road and when he left he paused outside, dropped his wallet and walked off.

“Cousins was then seen on CCTV to pick it up and get back into a car, which was driven off, and the victim then returned after he realised he had dropped the wallet,” she said.

“When Cousins returned to the shop, he was pointed out and he took the victim to a bin further down the road where it was retrieved - but £45 in cash, a photo and a lock of hair was missing from inside.

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“During interview, Cousins accepted he had picked up the wallet because someone in his car said that they had dropped it. However he now accepts the prosecution case.”

Defending solicitor Greg Peters said that his client was a passenger in a car parked outside the shop, and said that the other male inside the vehicle told him it was his wallet, so he got out and picked it up.

"However he accepts the other male was known to be dishonest, and with hindsight, he should have realised the male was not telling the truth and now accepts culpability for this offence,” he said.